U.S. Christian Citizens’ Path To Civil Online Discourse – With Each Other

Facebook is used in the illustration below because the issue at hand is exhibited there most graphically, by more people than anywhere else.

Common types of comments from Christians on Facebook:

“We have to vote them out of office.

“A sin is a sin. It’s my job to just love them.”

“We just have to pray.”

“We have to contact our elected officials to let them know we won’t stand for it.”

“They just need Jesus.”

“Christians need to stand up and fight for our country.”

Here’s a news flash. None of those are exclusive of all the others. They are all accurate. All count.

For Christian American citizens, dealing with issues with our government, leaving any of them out of consideration and action reduces the effectiveness of engaging in the others.

But individually, they are all different subjects.

That said, here’s where serious perceptional problems arise in our discourse. When commenting on somebody’s post, we refuse to release our own agenda driven emphasis, even when that’s not what’s being discussed.

Somebody posting about government process should be able to engage in a conversation about that without having “They just need Jesus” lectures or lengthy Biblical exegesis thrown in every other comment.

Likewise, somebody posting from a spiritual perspective should be able to take that path of discussion without heated, rabid political comments endlessly thrown in.

It should not be angrily assumed that either person posting from their particular perspective is discarding the importance of all the other subjects.

It just happens to be what they’re talking about at the moment.

Keeping the fights outside the camp.

What it amounts to is just agreeing to have the courtesy to stay on the subject somebody wrote about, and leaving off battles about things that haven’t even been mentioned.

The ability to write our own posts gives us all the room and opportunity needed to sound the alarm about any subject without hijacking somebody else’s discussion.

If Christians concerned about any issue from a spiritual or government perspective could just grasp that concept, there would be a whole lot fewer heated disagreements between a lot of people that are actually all on the same side.

From the mouth of Jesus came these words that emphasized that few things were more important to the world than our exhibited unity.

John 17:20-22“I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one;”